When Is History Too Far Gone?

Greetings and apologies for not updating the blog for some time. I've been away on holiday and a fantastic holiday it was too.

I've returned to the events remembering 80 years ago when many people gave their lives for freedom on the French beaches. D-Day was a huge turning point in World War Two. There were military displays, cultural events and times when politicians spoke about the need to remember and never forget 'Lest we forget'.

While I've been away on holiday people have asked me about my sabbatical and about what I've learnt so far. Inevitably the theme of reparations has come up with different thoughts expressed by those wishing to engage in deeper conversation. Some people recognise the idea of reparations others object quite strongly but all I would say, are wary of the idea. Those who object do so largely on the idea that its too far past and we need to move on. Most people that express this view are either beneficiaries of the historic slave trade or ignorant of the lasting effects it has in the here and now.

So, the question I have is, how far is too far past to be remembering things? At what point does remembering hold us back and destroy our progress? We don't expect the Italian government to pay reparations for all the pain and abuse inflicted by the Roman Empire but we don't expect our nation to simply move on from D-Day or Remembrance Day. Neither do we expect the Jewish people to 'move on' from the atrocities of the Holocaust.

In the bible the people of God are called to remember all kinds of things. Their freeing from slavery, the good things God has done and crucially Christians are called to remember the death of Christ through what we call Communion. Remembering is not seen in the bible as something that holds us back but as something that helps us live with hope and seek to move on from the mistakes of the past.

Maybe I'm getting old and am trying to hold on to too much of the past but I see remembering as something that can help us asses the lives we lead the things we have faced and the direction we can travel in in the future.

Look out for more posts in the coming week.

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.

Psalm 143:5